The rest of the story...

Now that all of my Christmas pictures have been recovered, I can finish sharing about our Christmas.

Christmas evening, we went to church to celebrate with the Swartzentrubers (Alex's mom's side). Instead of exchanging gifts this year, all of the family was invited to participate in a talent show. It was sooo fun! My girls couldn't wait for their turns. They love the stage! First, Braylee and her cousin Trista sang the Old and New Testaments and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Then Brynna sang Little Wormy, ABCs, and said the Pledge of Allegiance. I literally had to rip the microphone from her hands because she wanted to perform more! :) Then Braylee decided to tell the Christmas story, but she was being a little shy at this point and forgot some of the parts, but she still covered the main points. Others did puppet shows, sang, and played the piano.

Alex with his girls, his mom, and his grandma

The day after Christmas, we celebrated at Gramma & Pappy's. Gramma & Uncle Adam had put together a scavenger hunt for the girls' big gift. The girls and Gabe went running all over the house on their "treasure" hunt. They ended up in Adam's old room...and found new chairs with their names on them! So cute! We took a picture of the grandkids lined up in their chairs. The little ones went down for naps after lunch and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon of playing games. Gramma, Mandi, and I were frustrated with two straight losses to the boys in Taboo and Pictionary. Then we realized it's because all 4 of them are "hard-wired" the same...they think too much alike!

Pappy & Gramma with the grandkids

Uncle Adam and the girls. He got them boots.
Checking one of the clues on their hunt.
Finding their chairs.
Brynna, Braylee, Gabe, & Ella

The next morning after church, we went to my Grammy's house. It was definitely sad not having Gramps and Uncle Bill there. Alex was sick, so he missed out on the fun too. We ate lunch, opened gifts, and then played Spades...and of course joked about how Gramps would have tried to cheat. Braylee wasn't ready to say good-bye to Taryn when it was time to go, so Mamaw invited Braylee to spend the night at her house.

Then, Brynna and I went to Ella's 1st birthday party! Mandi had the house all decked out in pink & red and Ella loved all of the attention. :) Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Braylee is Reading!

I'm so proud of our little girl! She has been sounding out words here and there for the last 6 months and starting to recognize more and more words. I've never boughten flashcards for her because I wanted her to learn how to sound out the words instead of just memorize them. Over the last couple of weeks, I would let her read the easy words when we were reading bedtime stories. I said several times, "Braylee, you are reading!" She would reply, "No I'm not because I can't read a book to Brynna." or she would get frustrated with all of the hard words. Since we do not have any "beginning reader" books yet, I decided to make Braylee a book tonight. (It was a quick job and has no story line. ;)) I used some words I knew she was familiar with but also included ones that I wasn't sure if she knew but thought she could probably sound out...fast, fun, run, blue, hug, sister. She was so excited when I handed her "book" to her and told her to read it to Brynna!

We sat down in their room and she had the best time reading it to us. After the 3rd page, she said, "I am reading!" I loved seeing the joy on her face! After she was done, she decided she wanted to read it to her Daddy too. I videotaped it, but it's long and I can't edit it right now because our speakers aren't working. So, I'll save it on my camera in case anyone wants to see it. :) This is what the book said:

pg. 1 I love Jesus. Jesus loves me.
pg. 2 I love my dog. I see my dog.
pg. 3 My dog sat on a mat. My dog is sad. I hug my dog.
pg. 4 I am 5. Brynna is 3. Leila is 6.
pg. 5 The car is my mom's. My dad has a blue car.
pg. 6 I run fast. Leila runs fast.
pg. 7 Brynna is my sister. I love Brynna. She is fun!
pg. 8 The stars are big. I see the stars.

She said the book was long. :) The hardest word for her? "The." She can't sound it out...always says, "t,huh,ee." ;) I told her that's one she's going to have to memorize. :) I've been surprised with how quickly she has picked up things like "ar" "sh" etc. Tomorrow, I plan to go buy some new books at Wal-mart!
*Update: My friend, Greta, brought over some beginning reader books for Braylee this morning. She read The Fat Rat and Ted's Shed (I had to help her with Ted's Shed).

A Serving of Humble Pie, Please.

The other night, Brynna was playing with her dolls. I don't even remember what she was saying that I was so impressed with, but this is what followed.

Me: Brynna, you are so smart! You are one smart little girl! How smart are you anyway?!

Brynna: As smart as God.

Me: What?

Brynna: As smart as God!

Me (Trying not to giggle): Brynna, you can't say that. You will never be as smart as God. God knows everything. You can say God made you smart, but you can't say you are as smart as God.

Brynna pauses. Then: God made me really smart!

Pictures Recovered!

It was not a cheap process, but I was able to recover the lost Christmas pictures from my memory card!! I'm so thankful! I was able to save about 150. Here are just two of my favorites that were recovered. More updates from Christmas to come soon. ;)

Andre', Adam, Alex, Braylee, Pappy, Brynna, Gramma,
Gabe, Tera, Ella, and Mandi

Braylee, Taryn, and Brynna
(My girls are wearing their new sweater

dresses from Granny & Pa.)

New Year's Eve 2009

My girls weren't feeling the best during the days leading up to New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, they already knew about our plan to go bowling with a bunch of friends from church. When I checked Brynna's temp and it was 103+, I had to give her the bad news that she would have to stay home. :( Alex stayed home with her while I took Braylee to the bowling alley. Within an hour of being there, Braylee crawled in my lap and asked if we could go home. Poor thing. We stayed awhile longer and then headed back home. When we arrived, Annabelle Ballerina was proving that fevers do not stop her as she danced around the living room. :) By 11pm though, Braylee was running 103 too (Her temp was 98.8 when we left for the bowling alley.). She ended up falling asleep, but I woke her up a little before midnight because she had talked ALL day about watching the ball drop. So, all four of us watched the ball drop from our bed. It was fun to all be together, no matter where we were. :)

Braylee with some of her friends from church.

Brynna's mole

Brynna had a suspicious mole suddenly appear back in April. It grew rapidly and darkened until July. At her 3yr check up in September, the pediatrician said it had to come off. We were originally scheduled to have it removed by a surgeon in November but that appt was canceled due to me feeling uncomfortable with the surgeon we were going to see. I scheduled her with another doctor for December. He agreed it needed to be removed, mentioned the word "melanoma" more than I would have liked, and said he wanted a specialist to remove it because she could possibly end up with a skin graft if the mole came back abnormal. Thankfully, he was able to get us in to a dermatologist quickly. We saw her on the 29th. She looked at her mole under a microscope. She believes it's a Spitz nevus. She said they look scary to the eye and scary under the microscope but are benign. Phew! Big sigh of relief! She actually said that if we wanted to wait and watch it, we could but if there was ANY change, it would need to come off right away. I decided we were already prepared for it to come off that day, and I really didn't want to be worrying about it. She drew around the mole to show us where she would cut...we joked with Brynna that it looked like an eye. The doctor also asked if I was sure I wanted to do it in the office. She thought with her age, it might be better to have a plastic surgeon do it under anesthesia. But, I know my 3 year old...She has been a calm little girl from the very beginning. She did wonderfully...cried but laid still and cooperated. The doctor and nurses were amazed, and the doc said, "My 3 yr old would have never done this!" I said, "Oh, my 5 yr old wouldn't have done it either, but I knew Brynna would." Gramma went with us and promised Brynna she could have ice cream when it was done. It was only 10:30am but we took her to McDonalds for ice cream! She was a happy little girl then! She has 4 stitches and will have them removed in 2 weeks.

Looking like an eye...

Not too happy after it was all done.

Much happier now! :)

Of course, I had to come home and research Spitz Nevi. :) They used to be called "benign juvenile melanoma" due to their appearance as melanoma and typically being found in children. As for how they change...Brynna's meets this criteria. It appeared suddenly, had rapid growth, and then stabilized within 6 months. But, Spitz nevi typically start out as a red papule and range in color from skin-tone to reddish-brown. Brynna's did not start as a red papule and was definitely black. Pathologically, the spitz nevi are so similar to melanoma, it said even some expert pathologists have difficulty determining the difference. This makes me a little uneasy...knowing a melanoma could be missed...not just in my child but anyone. I'm glad we went ahead with removing it too since all the info I read said surgical removal was recommended. I'm not too worried since Brynna appears to be completely healthy, but I'm still anxious to see the pathology report. :)

Update: The dermatologist called to say Brynna's mole did come back consistent with a Spitz nevus. All of the borders looked ok, so they won't have to remove any more! PTL for a good report!!

Year in Review

We've had a wonderful 2009 and have lots of fun things to look forward to in 2010...a new house for one!! Here are a few highlights from our year...

January~ Happy 2009!

January~ Playing in the Snow

February~ Brynna's very 1st haircut, done by Aunt Trista.
February~ Spending some time away with my honey.
March~ Brynna's 1st Ice Cream Cone
March~ Celebrating Gramps' 75th and my 30th Birthdays
April~ Easter Eggs
April~ Easter Sunday
May~ Mother's Day
May~ Braylee's 1st Dance Recital
May~ Braylee rides with no training wheels!
June~ Vegas Getaway with Good Friends
June~ Brynna's 1st time at Gymnastics
June~ Holiday World Fun
July~ Girls' 1st time Flying!
July~ Hilton Head Island

July~ Vacation Bible School
August~ Camping Fun
August~ Breaking Ground
September~ Tracee is having TWINS!
September~ Braylee's 1st Day of Pre-School
September~ Princess Party
October~ Pumpkin Patch
October~ Halloween
November~ Weekend at French Lick
November~ Brynna learned to write her name.
December~ Moved to the Rental
December~ Merry Christmas

Thank you Lord for blessing us with another year of wonderful memories!